We collected input from hundreds of visitors to the site to compile the list of the 100 Greatest Books of All Time. You can see the beginning of the project here, where you’ll also find an index of all the results to date.

We are now in the final week of revealing the winners, and today we bring you #5.

One of the most scientifically influential and socially controversial books ever published, Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life saw its first printing in 1859. Later printings would shorten the title to The Origin of the Species, but the theory it supports remained the same.

In an arena that had been governed by Church principles for centuries, Darwin rejected the notion of Creationism in favor of an evolutionary model that had humans and all other species developing through generations by natural selection. Written in accessible language, The Origin of the Species would become one of the most popularly read science texts ever, and its ideas would break ground in the field of evolutionary biology while challenging long-held theories and beliefs worldwide.

Christopher Monsour: Darwin’s book changed humanity’s perspective on the world forever, by explaining, for the first time, how order & complexity could emerge out of a process that doesn’t involve some higher creator.

About the Author

Jason is the founder and managing editor of Fandomania, and he co-hosts the weekly Fandomania Podcast with Celeste. He is severely into toy collecting, plays a worryingly large amount of games, watches way too many movies and TV shows, and reads more than his fair share of books and comics. He also likes guacamole.